Force of Fates
by anasthetically
Summary: He was just there to see some family. He was just there to try to have a good time. He and everyone else had no idea they would be thrown into the hellhole that was Heavenly Host elementary. While running into victims from different schools like Kisaragi and Byakudan, Brendon Caldwell's brothers, friends, and allies are forced to fight in order to get out alive.
1. Chapter 1

I would just like to make it known that I created this entire story, these characters, their personalities, background, and a kind of intricate plot, in about 19 minutes or less. And this whole thing is just me practicing my writing. But um... you can leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism in the reviews, or just straight up tell what you think RESPECTFULLY. But just remember, very little thought and planning went into this. Enjoy, and have a lovely day.

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_"Don't talk unless talked to. Don't get drunk. Don't be negative. Have a good time." _This was officially the fourteenth time Brendon Caldwell had repeated this in his head. He was about ten minutes away from his old house, and if he had the audacity, he would make a U-turn and drive for an hour back to his small apartment. But audacity was something he lacked.

His family had started out in America, but they moved to Japan when he was thirteen. This was due to multiple reasons, but the main one was his parents finding a work place that paid them more than what they needed, so they decided to settle down in Yokohama, a neighboring city to Tokyo. Him and his brothers were not a fan of this big change at the time, though now they're all fluent in Japanese, and there were others like them trying to adjust to their new life. He was going to see these people today.

After getting out of his car, shutting the door, and locking it, he stuck his keys in his pocket and made his way towards the white door. It was brown when he last saw it. Brendon pressed the doorbell, and practically held his breath. Who opened the door was not his mother or father, and it wasn't his brothers.

It was Amaiya.

"...Uh, hello." He managed to spit out. She was fairly short, on the heavier side, and had beautiful dark skin. He thought to himself, _"What the hell is my brother's ex doing here?"_

And she just happened to be thinking, _"What the hell is my ex's brother doing here?"_

"Hi." She said. "I had no idea you were coming."

"I had no idea you'd be here." He responded. They only knew each other through Brendon's brother, Tanner. They weren't enemies, far from it. They have hung out on multiple occasions back when he was in school, but the break up between her and his brother was a rocky one, and the last time he saw her, she was screaming bloody murder at Tanner. "Well everyone's inside, so...come on in." Brendon gave her a small smile before stepping inside the house. On the shelves fixed upon the wall were family photos, and a lot of them included him. He gazed at all of them before quickly looking away because he was coming up to the last picture on the shelf. And the last one was the one he never wanted to see.

"Brendon?"

A familiar voice rang in his ears. All too familiar. He turns to his right, and he's bombarded with an abrupt but affectionate hug. "Holy shit, I haven't seen you in forever!"

Nicholas, known as Nicky, or just Nick, was the youngest one of the Caldwell trio. Still in high school and with his father's blue eyes and his mother's black hair. Last time Brendon checked, he got himself promoted to being the lead on the Blue Devils dance team, who were making themselves known by getting first place in competitions back to back. "Ow ow ow you're crushing my ribs-"

"Shit, sorry-" He quickly let him go but retained his grin. Brendon did not remember him being that strong. "Where's mom?"

"...Tanner didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what?"

"Mom and dad are out on a cruise ship to like...they called it Scandinavia or something. They won't be back until maybe next week. And they didn't even consider that maybe, just maybe, I would want to go too!"

Tanner never tells him anything. He didn't tell him that his ex was going to be there, and he didn't tell him that his parents were in another part of the world. Speaking of which, a man happened to be trudging down lazily from upstairs. Tanner looked exactly like his mother, except as a male. His special talent is antagonizing others, yet his charm and wit were contagious. He laid eyes on his older brother and leaned against the wall. "Well damn, you actually decided to show up." Brendon stared at him in annoyance. "...Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"No, it was me saying, 'Well damn, you actually decided to show up'." He continued down the stairwell until he reached the level floor. "It's been way too long, dude!" He set his can of beer down on the nearest high surface and pulled Brendon into an embrace. "I missed you soooooooo much, you know that? And I heard the whole 'adulting' thing is going absolutely swell for you." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

"You sound so thrilled." He grumbled.

"Okay, but like, seriously." Tanner patted his back and pulled away. "You should try to come around more often."

"...I'm busy." He stated. But in truth, he wasn't. "And also, got a question for you." He leaned in so hopefully they could only hear each other's voices. "Why is Anaiya here? Are you guys back together or something?"

"What? No. No no no no no." He answered. "Look, I...We, are trying to make amends."

"..."

"...Okay, so I convinced her to come over so maybe we can, you know.."

"Oh good lord, she's over you dude. Honestly, you should just let it go already."

"That-...man, you haven't been here in like, three years, so you don't know what's been going on."

"Yeah, but you really think she'll dig you after she found you getting it on with both of her best friends like a some horny dogs-"

"And I'm going to have to stop you right there. Look, the point is, I'm trying to make things better between us." They both gazed at Amaiya, who was talking to another girl Brendon had not seen before. "Good luck, I guess. And who's that?"

"Oh, that's Kelly. She's in my trig class. She had nothing else better to do, so I invited her over." Kelly was an exchange student who doesn't come off as unique in personality, but she's a person you always have in the group. She is supportive just as much as she (somehow) gets people out of trouble, and is the reason why Tanner and Amaiya has gotten out of so many dilemmas. Most people who know her personally think of her as 'the trump card'. While Kelly is the trump card, Amaiya is the balance. She's not the one to start the problem, but she's the one who always ends up solving it. Amaiya has great judgement, and is always, or at least most of the time, the neutral party and hears both sides. At this point, she's just done with everyone's bullshit.

Before Brendon could give his initial thoughts on Kelly, Nick made a beeline towards them with another person not far behind him. "Hey, you remember Devon, right?" He did, but he didn't remember Devon having bright turquoise hair. "Oh wow-"

"Yeah, I know, I look like a highlighter." He snickered softly before holding out his hand, which Brendon responded by shaking his hand firmly. "Dude, you changed a lot."

"Says the one with the neon blue hair."

When Brendon needed a quick cash grab, he would do yard work for the neighborhood, including the other foreign family that lived there. Due to this, the Caldwell's and the Gallagher's became friendly with each other, which resulted in Nick and Devon becoming best friends. In fact, Devon was the only friend of Nick's Brendon actually liked. Devon seemed more mature than the other kids and could distinguish between right and wrong, and genuinely acted on it. "How much you wanna bet I glow in the dark?"

"No way-" The chime of a doorbell had cut his sentence short. "Is that the pizza guy?" He asked. Devon shook his head. "But we didn't order pizza..."

"I've got it." Amaiya headed towards the door and looked through the peep hole, glanced at Nick, then cracked the door open. Who stood in front a was tall male with messy dark hair, sporting khakis, a white tank top, with a black Adidas track jacket. "Fujimura-san?"

"Hey...Uh, Nick left his bag at the studio." He showed her the black duffel bag with Nick's name painted on the side in white. "I was gonna give it back to him, but if he ain't here just-"

"Oh he's here!" She suddenly exclaimed. "Oh he is definitely here. Are you in a rush at this moment? Got anywhere to be?"

"Uhhh...no."

"Good. Why don't you stay for a little bit?"

Nick tilted his head as he processed what he was hearing. Her head was blocking the opening, so he couldn't see who was there. "Maiya, who is it? Who's at the door?"

"You're about to find out sweetie. Now please, come in." Amaiya opened the door wider and Nick's stomach dropped.

Takashi and Nick had been at each other's throats in everything since they met. From dance, to personal preferences, they can and will argue about anything. Their completely different personalities clash, resulting in Nick always ranting to whoever listens about how much Takashi annoys him. Even if the latter has calmed down a bit, in a way. "..."

"...Sup."

"What are you doing here?"

Takashi stepped inside the house and showed him the bag. "Giving you back your bag."

"How nice."

"Yeah, cause I'm a nice person." Nick quickly snatched the bag and rotated it around, making sure that nothing was altered or changed. "Did you write anything on it?"

"No."

"Did you steal anything?"

"Why the fuck would I tell you if I stole something?"

"Gee, maybe because I don't fucking trust you." He muttered bitterly. Takashi didn't hesitate to retort back. "The whole point is to not let the person know you stole it."

"So, because you're not telling me you stole something, you did steal something."

"Jesus Christ you-...I didn't steal anything. I haven't even opened it!"

"And how do I know you didn't?!"

"...I swear to god I'm gonna-"

"Hey, whoever's yelling, please shut up." Both of the adolescents snapped their head towards the young girl, who had just turned sixteen a month ago, had entered into the living room, coming out from her cave that was previously Brendon's room. Her dark hair styled in two braids swayed along while she lazily walked past them.

"Well look who finally decided to show up."

"Nick, I've shown up so many times, but you didn't notice because you're always thinking about Devon's di-"

"Say one more word and I'll curb stomp you!"

"Bet."

Nick was still processing what she said before proceeding to yell insults at her. They were actually good friends, and these kind of situations were normal. She's generally quiet and composed, yet has a hard time controlling herself when she needs to. Due to family problems, Brendon's parents offered her a place to stay.

"Hey Amaiya, next time you should, oh I dunno, not bring the guy I hate to my own house?" Nick glared at Takashi, earning a sarcastic chuckle. He set his duffel bag down next to the front door and immediately began conversing with Tanner, probably trying to persuade to force Takashi out. But they had worked at the same part-time job, so they were on good terms. "And I'm called the rude one. I came all this way to give him his shitty bag and I don't even get a single thank you."

"Fujimura-san, you know how he is. Look, this is your chance to...you know..."

"...I've got no chance."

"You've just gotta show him that you're a chill guy! Because you are a chill guy! Bitch, you can do it."

"But I-" Anaiya firmly grasped his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Bitch. You can do it. You. Got. This." Takashi let out a small sigh as Kelly placed herself in the living room. "Hey everyone! Can you guys like, come into the living room?"

"What's up?" Tanner asked. "I just have something I want to do with everyone." Kelly motioned everyone to move towards her, which most of them complied except Takashi who was just standing there awkwardly, and Sadie because she was still working. "...Hey you two."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Sadie, you should do this too. And Takashi, I kinda don't when you came over, but in this Christian house we are for inclusion!"

The three brothers furrowed their brows. "We're Roman Catholic-"

"Okay well...I was close. Both of you, join the circle." Takashi clicked his tongue as he sauntered to the group, followed by Sadie who reluctantly joined them, but stayed near the couch. "Alright, so. I was in Tokyo last week, and I came across this little charm thing. It's super simple and basically a thing where we become friends forever. The legend says that a girl named Sachiko died about twenty or thirty years ago, but her spirit wanders giving around blessings and all that other stuff. So if we do this right, we'll be our friendship will be bound together by Sachiko."

"Sounds cringey."

"All of the other ones seemed way to complicated. So I chose this one. It might be cheesy, but it's kinda cute." Kelly held up a small cut out paper doll. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, in fact, it was a bit underwhelming for a friendship charm. "The instructions are pretty simple. Everyone grabs a piece of the paper, and we all say 'Sachiko we beg of you'...eight times in our heads. I repeat, in our heads!"

Most of them thought of it as a scam. But there was too many times Kelly had did something for the majority of them and it was only fair to go along with it. One by one, hands reached to gently grab onto the frail piece of paper. "Now, make sure not to say it anymore or any less than eight. And when we're all done, we pull the paper apart. And then we're done."

"...Still sounds cringey."

"Shut up Tanner.

"Well what happens if we mess up?"

She shrugged at him. "...I dunno. Probably nothing."

All of them had a firm grip on the paper doll, waiting for the next order. "Okay, everyone, say it eight times in your head. Ready? Go!" The room was taken over by a brief moment of silence as they all repeated the mantra in their minds. After a considerate amount of time, Kelly spoke up again. "Did everyone say it eight times?"

"Uh-huh. Can we just get this over with?"

"Would you guys quit rushing this? Okay, on the count of three, everyone is going to pull on the paper at the same time, make sure you hold it tight."

Brendon was absentmindedly staring at the stark white paper. He never thought he'd find himself performing some friendship charm with people he hadn't seen in years and people he just met.

"One...two...three!" His mind checked back in on the 'three'. Him and everyone else tugged on the paper, tearing it to eight pieces. "Aaannd we're done."

"That's it?"

"Make sure you keep your scrap somewhere safe where it won't get lost. It's a symbol of our friendship."

Devon looked at his paper scrap skeptically. "Yeah, sorry. I'll only have this for four hours tops before it suddenly disappears."

"And what if the person you did the charm with isn't really your friend?" Everyone had a good guess as to who Nick was referring to, especially Takashi. Who just happens to be the person he's referring to. "Like I said, just keep the scrap where it won't get-"

A rough vibration coming from the ground had cut her off. The room around them was shaking in an abnormal way. "What the fuck!?" Devon barked, leaning against the wall. The lights from the chandelier above shattered spontaneously, leaving the room generally dark. "Oh fuck, it's an earthquake!"

Amaiya yelped as she lost her balance, collapsing to the floor. "What the hell do we do?! We're gonna fucking die!" Takashi was on the verge of falling down after her. With little light in the room, he spotted Nick, frozen in place. Looming over him was a giant wooden cabinet that was tipping over. "Nick!" He quickly dashed forward and stretched his arms out towards him, wrapping them around his torso and jerking him backwards. The cabinet tilted down and fell onto the floor with a big crash. Nick could only stare agape at what could have been his death.

The rumbling and vibrations only got more aggressive while the screaming and yelling only got louder. Amaiya tried to stay alert and focused on what to do in this situation. As the floor beneath her gave in, only two words escaped her mouth.

"...Aw shit-"

The entire floor in the living room seemed to have broken apart and had fallen away, along with the eight individuals, who were descending into their darkest hour yet.


	2. Chapter 2

"..lly.."

"Ke..lly..!"

"KELLY!"

Devon was violently shaking her body while she was half unconscious. "Kelly! Wake up! Can you hear me?!" He kept repeating those phrases until Kelly finally had the ability to speak. "...Huh...? Stop...doing that, please.."

He immediately relaxed and let out a gasp. "Oh thank god you're alive!"

"...Where's everyone? Why is it so dark?" She used her little strength to slowly sit up. The room was an entirely wooden structure with small desks that were either toppled over or barely standing, along with a chalkboard at the front and the teachers desk. The only light that was supplied was the occasional lightning striking outside in the pouring rain, and a small glowing candle in the far corner of the room. The aura being produced could only be described as frightening."Where...are we?"

"I have no fucking clue..." Kelly scanned the room meticulously, noting every feature she could see. "I think..we're in a classroom. But a really old one."

"And how the hell did we get here, huh? Last thing I remember, I was free falling."

"Yeah. We did the charm, and then this earthquake happened, I think..and then the floor caved in. And now we're here."

Devon grunted as he pushed himself up from the floor and stood, rubbing his shoulder. "First of all, there's no way we should be alive, the fall was should have killed us. Second of all, there's no way there's an...underground school, so-"

"So we must have been taken here by someone else." He held his breath for a second before letting it go. "Well we still don't know where we are." His amber eyes focused on the tattered piece of newspaper pinned to wall next to the chalkboard. While Kelly was in the process of getting back to her feet, he approached the article and ripped it off of the nail. "...What's it say?"

"Uhh..it says, 'Breaking News: Serial Kidnappings End in Murder'...basically it says that these kids were kidnapped and murdered brutally. Elementary kids too."

"Anything else?"

"...This article's from 1973."

"And it was just sitting around? What about that over there?" She pointed to the other sheet of paper attached to the wall and swiftly walked towards it, bumping up her glasses to the bridge of her nose with her index finger. "It...It says..."

"It says what?"

"'Heavenly Host Elementary'..'Notice to all faculty and students'..."

"...Okay, this is probably some haunted house prank Tanner and Sadie came up with."

Kelly turned her head to him and squinted. "So you're saying that Tanner and Sadie..."

"Look it might sound far-fetched but-"

"Somehow had the technology to simulate an earthquake..."

"Well you know it's not completely impossible-"

"Made the floor collapse, and if it wasn't real, had the drugs to somehow make us think it collapsed..."

"The black market has some crazy shit and-"

"And then brought us to some building, decorated to make it look like a haunted school, and left us here as some 'prank'."

The two of them stared at each other for no more than five seconds. Devon slowly nodded before saying, "Yeah, we're in deep shit." Kelly ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair and stopped at the nape of her neck. "Okay, uh...Alright, let's...walk around. See if we can find a way out...wait, no, we need to find the others first, then we get out of here. Did you see anyone when I was unconscious?"

"Didn't get the chance. I woke up, saw you, woke you up, and you know the rest...but I swore I heard some guy screaming."

"Are you sure?"

"I mean, it could have just been me-" He only got to speak that much until Kelly pulled the sliding door open and exited out of the classroom. "Hey!" Devon called out, pursuing after her. The ominous hallway was so dark that you couldn't see the end of it, yet that seemed to not even phase Kelly. "Not gonna wait for me?"

She stopped, gazing into the abyss. "I'm sorry, I... I'm just worried. Like, really worried. We need to find the others. Now."

"How do we know they're even here?"

"We look for them...Hopefully they're all okay. Amaiya and Sadie are tough cookies, so I wouldn't worry about them."

Kelly continued to walk but stepped more carefully. The wood beneath their feet should might as well be rotted out. "Kelly," Devon followed her. "What if we're the only ones here?!"

She let out an exasperated sigh, looking back as she walked. "We aren't! They fell in with us, so they must be in here! I'm not leaving until I make sure that everyone's okay. So trust me, we're going to fi-" She yelped suddenly and fell down with a big thump. "Kelly?!" He took a couple steps before his body froze in front of Kelly.

"Ow...I tripped on something..."

"Kelly..."

"What?"

She turned around to face him, but was taken back by the body of a girl who had to have been only a few years younger than the duo, sprawled out across the floor. "Shit, I must've tripped over her..." She had no clue if she was awake or not because her head was turned away and her filthy ash brown hair was covering her face. "Hello? I-I'm sorry I tripped over you, are you hurt? Hey..." She placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and gently rocked her back and forth. "Can you hear me? Hey!"

"Kelly! Stop-!"

"I'm not just going to leave her!" Kelly barked. She moved the girl's head over, expecting to see a fairly young girl's face quietly sleeping. Not even a moment passed by before she let out a deafening shriek.

She hastily pushed herself away from the limp body while Devon's brain might as well have just shut down for a couple of seconds. "She's dead!" She sputtered. "Oh my god, she's dead!"

"I-I know...I tried to tell you!" He stammered.

"But you didn't tell me! And now I just...!" Kelly rose to her feet. The young girl didn't have a face. There was no skin, eyes, or flesh the maggots crawling out of her mouth had spared. The only thing left was a skull covered in dried out blood. "...We gotta get the fuck out of here." Devon muttered. "We can't fucking stay here, we've gotta go, like, now!"

"Don't you think I know that?! ...You know, it's no surprise that when a person is trapped in a place like this where there's probably..no food or water, they will end up dying. Like this person! I-It's completely normal! Sad, but normal!" She ran her hand through her hair and took in long breaths. Her coping method was to rationalize everything, even if there was nothing to rationalize. "S-She just wasn't as lucky, being all by herself. If we regroup with the rest, we'll have a better chance!"

Devon had spaced out as she was making her own conclusion to the situation. "...What if we don't regroup with the rest?"

"And we will. We're going to find them!"

"And what if we don't find them?"

"...Say they are or were in here. Do you think they'd leave without us? Do you think Nick would leave without you?"

His eyes rolled to the side as he looked away. "Knowing him, he'd probably die looking for me."

"Exactly! So-"

"SEIKO! NOOOOOO!"

Both of their bodies flinched in response to the wailing that was coming from upstairs. The two of them looked at each other in concern. Now, this conversation didn't happen verbally, instead this was carried out by made up psychological mind reading, which went like this:

_"Did you hear that?"_

_"Yeah I heard that, did you hear that?"_

_"Of course I heard that why would I be asking if you heard that if I didn't hear it?"_

_"I dunno, I just wanted to make sure!"_

_"Okay, well that girl probably needs help!"_

_"But what if-"_

_"Kelly, now is not the time to be pussying out!"_

_"I'm not-"_

_"Yes you are. Now let's go."_

They bolted to the staircase, making sure they were light on their feet, since the wood was literally bending beneath them. After the small trip up the stairs, Devon looked both ways to determine which way he should go. In a quick impulse decision, he went to the right towards the bathrooms with Kelly not far behind. "I don't see anyone up here..." She said. "Maybe it came from down that hall."

"Maybe it did, I don't-" Someone had just ran full force into him and the collision knocked them back a foot away from each other. The person in front of him was a girl with a boyish hair cut and wearing a tan sailor outfit, which was a common uniform that was used in Japanese high schools, and big brown eyes that were completely filled to the brim with terror.

"Please help!"

"W-What's wrong?" Devon asked. "My friend hung herself!" After that harrowing statement, she barged through the duo to get the bucket that was filled with blood and unidentifiable organs, which they didn't notice beforehand. He looked into the bathroom and noticed that the third stall door was wide open, along with dampened choking and gasping sounds coming from it. Devon swiftly approached the opening, his breath hitching in response to the disturbing, if not horrific display in front of him.

A girl was hanging just a bit more than a foot off the ground from a noose that was tight around her neck, cutting off circulation to the brain. She was clawing at the rope with whatever strength she had left. Devon had only two seconds to take in all of this before he thought, _"Oh fuck, I've gotta do something!"_

Since he was fairly tall, it would be easy for him to lift her up in order to stop the choking process. So that's exactly what he did. Devon wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up as high as he could. That caused the girl to finally get some air.

Kelly wanted to do something. Her brain was telling her to move and be useful but her body was not going along for the ride. She watched Devon try his best to keep the girl off the rope, while all she could really do was tremble anxiously. The other student had managed to pour the contents of the bucket out at that moment, rushing over to his side. "You!" He groaned softly. "Put the bucket down! See if you can get the rope to be loosened!"

"O-Okay!" She nodded. The girl put the bucket upside down and stood on top of it. "You know how to loosen the rope, right? Just..pull the rope up! The part that looks like a spring!"

The teen grabbed hold of the spiraled rope and moved it upward, lengthening the noose. "You got it?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, take it off!" His arms were burning from the weight. Every second that went by, his grip was letting up. After she removed the rope from her neck, Devon thought that getting her down to the floor would be easy, but that was proved false when they both kind of crashed to the floor.

"Seiko!" She knelt down next to the girl that was coughing and wheezing. Which definitely meant she was alive. "Seiko, I'm so sorry!"

Kelly had (finally) entered the scene, with an aura that could only be described as unsteady. "Well, glad you decided to show up!" Devon jeered. "I-I..." Kelly stammered. "I'm sorry, I...I froze up, and..."

"Save it for later."

Seiko's hacking and gasping for air slowly ceased and turned to deep breaths. "Don't you ever do that again! You hear me?! I can't do this without you! I swear...I'll never leave you again!" With tears in her eyes, Seiko's friend made this heartfelt declaration while the other two watched, relieved that the situation was resolved.

Well, they thought it was.

"STOP!"

Her hoarse but loud scream shot through the brief moment of relief. "H-Hey, calm down-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She weakly crawled to the corner and cowered in is, shaking her head vigorously. "Please get away from me! Please!"

"Hey! Hey, look at me!" Devon had thought that Seiko wanted nothing but for her life to end, so it was natural that she would be frantically begging them to leave her alone. The problem was trying to talk her out of her dangerous mindset. "I don't know what happened to make you do something like that, but you need to just..calm down for minute, because I promise you that killing yourself isn't the way to solve your problems!"

"...What are you talking about? I-I didn't hang myself!" She said. Kelly and Devon both that the same mutual thought, which was: _"Wait, hold the fuck up."_

"What do you mean...?"

Tears welled up in her eyes as her shaky arm rose and pointed to the girl who was the reason why Seiko was alive in the first place and said,

"It was her!"


End file.
